March 2, 2021

Animals in the Anthropocene

Café Culture North East presents "Animals in the Anthropocene": Jo-Anne McArthur in conversation with Jeff Sebo.

In this special opening event of the series, award-winning photojournalist Jo-Anne McArthur will discuss her newly published book, HIDDEN: Animals in the Anthropocene, an unflinching book of photography documenting our relationship with non-human animals in the 21st century.

In discussion with philosopher Jeff Sebo, McArthur will consider the ethical, political and environmental consequences of the invisible animals in our lives: those with whom we have a close relationship and yet fail to see. They are the animals we eat and the animals we wear. They are the animals used in research and for entertainment, as well as the animals we sacrifice in the name of tradition and religion.
How, in the face of our appalling contemporary practices, are we to create a future relationship with animals based upon a compassionate and humane co-existence?

Jo-Anne McArthur is an award-winning photographer, author, and sought-after speaker. Through her long-term body of work, We Animals, she has documented our complex relationship with animals around the globe. Since 1998, her work has taken her to over sixty countries. In 2019 she founded We Animals Media. McArthur’s latest book is "HIDDEN: Animals in the Anthropocene" (We Animals Media, 2020), with co-editor Keith Wilson.

Jeff Sebo is Clinical Associate Professor of Environmental Studies, Affiliated Professor of Bioethics, Medical Ethics and Philosophy, and Director of the Animal Studies M.A. Program at New York University. He is co-author of Chimpanzee Rights (Routledge, 2018) and Food, Animals, and the Environment (Routledge, 2018) and author of Animal Ethics in a Human World (Oxford University Press, forthcoming).